Teacher class contact time reduction: FOI release

Information requested

The education secretary Jenny Gilruth has said on several occasions that she would like to move “at pace” to deliver on the government’s promise to reduce teacher class contact time by 1.5 hours a week. I would like to request any information held by the government – papers, emails, correspondence with council umbrella body, Cosla etc – setting out how the government envisages this goal can be achieved.

Please limit any response to the past 12 months.

Specifically I’m looking to understand how the government envisages the commitment can be delivered – would all sectors (primary, secondary and special schools) benefit from the reduction at the same time or would it be staggered? What is the timescale for delivery? What does the government estimate the implications would be in terms of staffing and how much would the reduction cost?

A recent quote I received from the Scottish government press office (on Monday 10 February), attributable to Ms Gilruth, said the Scottish government “brought proposals to COSLA ahead of the SNCT deadline to reduce class contact times”. The SNCT deadline was noon on Monday 3 February.

Please, therefore, include in any response the proposals put forward by the Scottish Government to Cosla.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under sections 25(1), 29(1)(a), 29(1)(b), 30(b)(i), 30(b)(ii) and 38(1)(b) of FOISA apply to that information.

Some of the information you have requested is publicly available, and I have inserted relevant links to this information into the Index of Enclosures. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Exemptions under section 29(1)(a) (formulation or development of government policy), section 29(1)(b) (ministerial communication), section 30(b)(i) (substantial inhibition of free and frank provision of advice) and section 30(b)(ii) (substantial inhibition of free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested.

These exemptions are subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all thecircu mstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release. However, given the active environment in which this policy is progressing, this is outweighed by the public interest in upholding application of exemption at this time.

Exemptions section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies some of the information requested because it is personal data (e.g. names and contact details) and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202500452258 - Information released - Annex A

File type

PDF

File size

1.3 MB